Stan in Delvania
by Scout-Is-Delicious
Summary: Stan wakes up in a mysterious land, where he must help its people fight in a war against an enemy that could destroy the world of Delvania and the real world. plz R&R. i dont own Sp, of course. Rated for languageviolence. ON HOLD due to writer's blok srry
1. Through the Tunnel

Stan was walking through a long dark tunnel. His footsteps echoed in the long corridor, the familiar sound of slow tapping from his shoes. He kept a steady, even pace, and he walked mindlessly toward the white light at the end of the tunnel.

_Am I dead?_ He thought. _Is this the path to heaven?_

Thoughts consumed his head as he looked around at the walls of the tunnel. With the distant light, he could see markings etched into the stone. Figures of what looked to be humans, wolves, birds, dragons, horses, griffins, chimeras, and many other beings that Stan could not distinguish. 

Stan looked back toward where he had entered.

Black. Pitch black nothingness.

He turned his gaze ahead again, the end of the tunnel closer now, but still at a distance. "Where am I?" he asked himself, his whisper carrying along the stone walls.

A peculiar noise startled Stan, and he whirled around to investigate, his shoes creating a slamming sound on the floor with his sudden movement. He listened intently.

It sounded like whispering at first, but it grew louder until it almost sounded like a roar. And then Stan knew.

Rushing water. A river, maybe, but definitely a large amount of water.

Curious, Stan turned slowly about, but by the time he saw, it was too late.

A rush of cold water swept Stan off his feet and sent him barreling along with the current. He fought to keep his head above the water, coughing and spitting it out repeatedly. He strained to look back and saw the end of the tunnel, so close that he could see the sun—a fiery yellow ball rising beyond reddish cliffs. The next thing he knew, the darkness was gone, and he was suspended in mid-air. Below him was milky-white mist, above him was the blue sky, and all around him were mountains and tall mesas. But he worried most about what was beneath the mist. Now he was falling with the cataract of water, down into the unknown.


	2. The Great Warrior

_Ugh… _

Stan had to strain to wake up. He was cold, weak, and tired from being washed up on shore after falling into a river at the bottom of the precipice. When he did open his eyes, he sat bolt upright, whipping his head from side to side, scanning the land around him.

Trees, mountains, hills, a waterfall—a land Stan had never seen before. He got to his feet, a little wobbly because of his fall, and breathed deeply. The air was fresh and smelled of rainwater and leaves and mountain snow.

"What is this place?" Stan said to himself. Then he felt a searing pain. He flung a hand to his right arm and groaned. When he pulled his hand away, he saw blood on his mitten, and a cut above his wrist.

_I must've hit something when I fell_… But the mark was strange, almost in a crescent-moonlike shape, with a line connecting each edge and a dot sitting on the line. _That's weird…_

Clutching his wound gently, he began walking away from the river. As he went on, he marveled at the beautiful lands around him. Mountains, capped with snow, marked the horizon in shimmering white. Before the mountains came mesas and plateaus of redrock which surrounded the grasslands. The leaves of the trees were bright green, some of which were turning yellowish-orange with the coming of autumn.

"I don't think I'm in Colorado anymore…" he muttered.

"Damn right, you're not!" came a harsh voice.

Stan whirled around only to see a club come down on his head and knock him out.

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Stan woke up, but didn't open his eyes. He felt the roughness of ropes wound around his body, and a solid object behind him. Instead of trying to get free, he listened to the conversation of the voices around him.

"What is it?" asked one voice.

"It's a Human, stupid," said another. "But this one is not like the Great Warrior. He is shorter and his hair is not the same color."

_Great Warrior,_ thought Stan. _Who could that be?_

"Where did this Human come from?" asked the first voice.

"We aren't sure. The soldiers found him in the field, mumbling about some place called Call-a-Radio. His origins are unknown. We'll interrogate him when he awakens."

The sound of footsteps approaching silenced the conversation. A third voice said, "Sir, the Great Warrior has been notified and is on his way here."

"Good. Hopefully he will know who this other Human is and if he is a spy for the Shadowlanders."

_Who are they? And who are these people? Where the hell am I? _So many questions filled Stan's head, and yet no answers for any of them. He didn't want to be interrogated, so he continued to pretend unconsciousness.

More footsteps, then the first voice said, "The Great One approaches! All hail the Warrior!"

Multiple voices chorused, "Hail!"

"O Great Warrior," said the first voice again. "We are humbled by your presence."

"Uh-huh… anyway, what's wrong?"

Something clicked in Stan's head. _That voice_, he thought, _it's so familiar_. It almost sounded like…

"Kyle?" Stan said suddenly, raising his head and opening his eyes for the first time since his capture. He was silenced immediately when he saw the beings surrounding him.

The creatures, whatever they were, had human bodies, but they had the muzzle and ears which resembled those of a wolf or coyote or some other kind of dog. And they were only a few inches shorter than Stan himself.

"The intruder has awakened!" said the dog-creature who appeared to be the leader.

Several spears were pointed at Stan's throat all at once.

"No!" cried Kyle.

"The Great One opposes?"

"I know this Human," Kyle told the leader. "He is my best friend, from the Distant Realm."

The leader thing paused, then said, "Do you wish for him to be released?"

Kyle simply nodded sternly.

The dog-leader snapped his fingers, and two other creatures came with knives and sliced the ropes that bound Stan.

Stan rubbed his arm, then turned to Kyle. "Dude, how did you get here? Where am I? What is going on--what are these things?!" he said, almost drunkenly as he looked around at the gathering of dog-humans.

The leader looked up at Kyle, who nodded.

"Follow me, Human," the dog-thing said, beckoning for Stan to follow. He led him through the gaping crowd of creatures and up a stone staircase into a brick temple. Once inside, Kyle and the dog-leader advanced to a large slab while Stan stayed a few feet away. The creature stepped forward and pointed to the stone, "Human Called Stan… you are in a land called Delvania…"


	3. Legend of the Elements

"Delvania?" Stan repeated stupidly.

The dog-leader leaned toward Kyle and whispered in his ear, "He's pretty slow, isn't he?" Kyle nodded with a witty smirk.

"Wait a minute, you never answered my question!" Stan said to the creature. "You never told me what the hell you dog-things are!"

"We are the Anubians—a peaceful race of half-human, half-lupine creatures."

Stan frowned at the word "peaceful".

The Anubian leader noted Stan's expression and smiled, "Although we have been a little… cautious of who enters the land since the Shadowlanders attacked."

"Shadowlanders? Who are they?" Stan asked.

"One thing at a time, Human," said the Anubian. "Firstly, I am Chief Lupin—leader of the Anubians and general of the Anubian Army. Obviously you know Kyle, our Great Warrior, so I will not take the time to speak of him and his wonderful deeds that he had done for us."

"What deeds? Kyle, you've been here before?"

Chief Lupin spoke before Kyle could, "Yes… the Great One has helped us through many perils, including hunger and war. He helped us defeat the first line of the Shadow Army, and he provided food for our starving cubs. We used to be a richer village, until the Shadowlanders cut off our food supply. We import antelope and other bodivae on ferries that travel from our southern shore to distant islands. The bodivae are our main source of nourishment, and they were abundant until the Shadowlanders moved in and took over the harbor. They brought the bodivae into their territory and began selling them as livestock, leaving us with the little meat we had left.

"When we learned about the overtaking of our harbor, we were outraged. We sent an investigative squadron over to our former territory, but they were enslaved and are currently being held in the Shadowlands.

"After our squadron was captured, the Great Kyle entered our land. He came just in time to witness the Shadowlanders attack us. The Great Kyle was outraged, and he summoned a Delvanian power that had somehow been granted to him, and counterattacked our enemy." He turned to face the stone slab again. "Long have we been in wait for the coming of _He-Who-Wears-A-Green-Hat-With-Earflaps_. And now he has finally entered our land. But you…" He looked at Stan again. "At first, we believed you were a spy for the Shadowlanders. Some of the others, such as my lieutenant, Canis, believed you were an omen. But when the Great Kyle told us his knowing of you, I was convinced you were on our side."

Kyle then said, "I've come to Delvania several times—I've been coming here for a few months now."

"So that's why you've been missing school lately," Stan said to him. "But why did you say I'm from the 'Distant Realm'?"

"Well, that's what the Anubians call _our_ world—the Distant Realm. It's a name for the place where Humans dwell, like us."

"Okay… now who are the Shadowlanders?" Stan's mind was full of questions.

Chief Lupin pointed at the slab to a shape that was black and demonic-looking. "The Shadowlanders are a race of dark, mysterious beings that are trying to rid the world of light. They have been after our treasures for years. But ever since our most ancient treasure was delivered to the Sacred Chamber from our neighboring country of Lacertia—Land of the Lizard People—the Shadowlanders have been entering our territory more than usual."

"Uh… what treasure, exactly?" asked Stan.

"Follow me…"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chief Lupin and Kyle took Stan out of the temple and across the village to another temple, this one semi-buried into the earth. The entrance was blocked by a large stone tablet with the engraving of six creatures—a wolf, a bird, a snake, a monkey, an elk, and a horse. Chief Lupin heaved aside the stone and beckoned for Stan to follow him. The three went down into the dark tunnel, Chief Lupin taking a torch from its holder and carrying it along to light the path.

"You cannot tell anyone of this place, One-Called-Stan," said the chief. "It is a hidden chamber that only those with the Elements in their blood may enter. Only six individuals in the entire cosmos, worlds mythical or nonmythical, carry the mark of an Element on their body. The Great Kyle is one of the six."

Stan looked over at Kyle, who returned his glance. "You do?"

Kyle nodded. "I'll show you when we get to the Chamber."

Then Stan remembered the mark on his arm from the waterfall. He pulled back his jacket sleeve and looked at it closely. The moonlike shape had not lost its form, and although the bleeding had stopped, the cut was deep and fragile.

"Here is the entrance." Said Chief Lupin.

Stan pulled his sleeve back down and jerked his head up to look at door in front of them.

Chief Lupin ran his index finger along the stone, tracing an invisible path. When he was finished, the ground began trembling as the door lifted up into the ceiling.

Once inside, Chief Lupin led them to the far end of the Chamber. The wall was painted with strange shapes and creatures. Stan was about to ask when the chief spoke, "Long ago, the Earth's balance was unstable, and the whole cosmos was threatened by chaos and darkness. An evil king, fed by powers of death and fear and pain, ruled over the galaxy with an iron fist. He yearned to blot out the light, to plunge the world into shadow and darkness, suffering and horror. Fear was his favorite weapon, and he used it to control people. He took over entire planets by using fear alone, and he killed anyone who denied him.

"Then one day, six Spirits arose from the shadow using the different Elements to destroy darkness. The Spirits were Aqua, Pyro, Terra, Gale, Solaria, and Lunaria. Aqua, the Spirit of Water; Pyro, the Spirit of Fire; Terra, the Spirit of Earth; Gale, the Spirit of Wind; Solaria, the Spirit of the Sun; and Lunaria, the Spirit of the Moon. They used their powers to seal the dark king inside a crystal orb and relight the world after decades of living in darkness.

"But there was another Spirit; Electra, the Spirit of Lightning, was overcome by hatred for Solaria because she felt her light wasn't as powerful as his—and she was right. But Electra's envy got the better of her, and she tried to rule the universe herself using thunderstorms. The other Spirits managed to defeat her and trap her powers in an orb like the dark king, and after that they locked their own powers away in orbs and left them in the possession of our ancestors. To prevent the Shadowlanders, who happen to be followers of the dark king, from obtaining the orbs, the Anubian ancestors sealed the Elements into this Chamber, where the Shadowlanders can never enter."

"But… which Spirit is which?" asked Stan.

Kyle answered for him. "Aqua is the snake, Pyro is the elk, Terra is the horse, Gale is the bird, Solaria is the monkey, and Lunaria is the wolf."

"What was Electra?"

"A hyena…" answered Chief Lupin. "Come—the Orb Chamber is this way."

They entered a room with seven stands, a sphere of glass sitting on each one. One had leaves swirling around inside, another with flames spiraling, one with water swirling, one with a pillar of wind in it, another with a bright yellow ball in the center, one with a white sphere surrounded by black, and one with lightning bolts flashing frequently in the center.

"This room is beautiful…" Stan murmured.

"Great Kyle, please show One-Called-Stan the marking of the Element Solar." Said Chief Lupin suddenly.

Kyle unzipped his jacket and lifted his blue shirt up to his chest. On his thin stomach was a circle surrounded by a crown of spikes and a diamond in the middle.

The sun.

"So… Kyle's Element is the power of the Spirit Solaria?" Stan said to the chief.

"You are correct, Human,"

Stan pulled up his blue sleeve. "Is this an Element?"

Chief Lupin took Stan's arm and inspected it carefully. Then his face changed to awe. "One-Called-Stan… you carry the mark of the Spirit Lunaria on your arm…"


End file.
